Halloween is just about over...

and now it's time to start the Thanksgiving projects! Does anyone else feel like the world of retail skipped Halloween and Thanksgiving? I am making a point of teaching my kids EVERY YEAR what Thanksgiving is supposed to be about, and how much we have to be thankful for. It was frustrating to see all the Halloween merchandise on 50% off clearance the first week of October... to make room for Christmas ornaments?! I had a $10 off anything coupon for Kohl's yesterday, and half of the store was on clearance (which I liked thank you), but the other half was Christmas decorations, huge toys on display, and Christmas themed clothing! What happened to giving thanks? Maybe a shirt with a turkey on it at least? A roasting pan?! I know, I must be weird! We have a bunch of projects planned for the twins, because we can learn a lesson each time we sit together and make something. I have pilgrim hats to make with them, while I explain (in three yr old speak) what pilgrims are. I have turkeys to make then I'll show them how we're eating a turkey for dinner! Wait, will they still want to eat the turkey? Hmmmmm...

Best Haunted House ever!!!

You have GOT to check this out - I don't personally live near it, but the photos on the flickr pages had me DYING laughing! The place is called Nightmares Fear Factory, it's in Niagara Falls. I have been to tons of haunted houses, I love them all! If you want to see some awesome pics of people while the are going through the house, google the Nightmares Fear Factory flickr site!!! A few girls do look genuinely scared, I feel bad for people like that who get talked into a haunted house. I wonder if I look like these people when I go through a haunted house - mouth all open, screaming, body all tense! Why do I like to be scared so much?! HA!

How to make Mario and Luigi hats

I am going to send you to an amazingly easy how to on someone else's blog, because it's so perfect! Took my mom minutes to do using scrap fleece she already had at home and my twins think she's superwoman for making them. Just awesome!!! Anyone wanting to make Mario Bros hats needs to see this!!!

*we used actual iron on letters from the craft store for the M and L on the hats. We just put a few stitches in them (no ironing!) and they have hung on through four months of play so far! The hats are surprisingly durable :)

I love County Fairs

Our local county fair has arrived, and we all had a blast. I love how colorful county fairs are! I couldn't stop taking pictures of all the colorful lit up rides, and all the flags on the food tents. Big Kid had a blast riding everything, and got on the Cyclops at least four times :) A good time was had by all!

Princess Peach Crown DIY!

Yep, I have decided what I want to dress up as for our Halloween party this year. I'm going to be Princess Peach from Mario Bros! The twins helped me decide, and find my costume. They want to be Mario and Luigi from Mario Kart, and thought I would make a great princess. How fun is that?! I hit up the local Goodwill stores and a few thrift shops before finally finding a perfect pink dress, and a crinelin (that's what it's called right? that puffy slip thing that goes under long skirts to make them poofy), total cost so far is $11.76 for the dress and $5.35 for the slip thingy. The dress is sleeveless, but I'm not a cosplayer so who cares if it's not exactly the dress Peach wears. I sure don't! The fact that the twins think it's the perfect Peach dress is enough for me :) I made the chest jewel using half of a Christmas ornament kit from Michael's, spraypainted the inside blue and hot glued it to an oval cut out of sparkly fun foam. I hung it with clear craft line as a necklace. I spray painted two ping pong balls the same blue, and put silver wire in them with a loop to hook to earrings. My mom offered to make the boys hats instead of buying baseball hats, yay! My mom ROCKS!

My Princess Peach crown, made out of fun foam!!! I just grabbed a few sheets of gold glittery fun foam, and cut out the shape of the crown. It was sticky on one side, so I stuck the top half of the foam sheet to the bottom half after I cut it out - making the crown sparkly on the inside and outside, and in the process it became very sturdy! A few hot glued jewels (bought everything at Michael's for under $6) and voila! Thing One and Two have crowns too, they were so impressed with mine they needed "prince hats". I love it!!! Super easy!!!

MC Hammer??!!

I let Big Kid listen to music while he does his math homework. My attitude is this: as long as his grades are fine he can have the music, but only for math homework. So he usually gets his ipod and listens to pandora. Sometimes we fight because he loves Ludacris, and most of what pandora finds is uncensored... you get the idea. Well today he was jammin out first to "Can't Touch This" (hammertime!), then he was listening to "I Like to Move It, Move It". Remember those songs? Is this my "I'm officially old" moment?! I heard my son listening to those songs and just died laughing. I can't believe he likes MC Hammer and Reel2Real! All I can think to say is wow. I knew he liked the move it song from the Madagascar movie, but where the heck did can't touch this come from?!

I'm already seeing all the skinny jeans I hated as a young teen coming back into style, and the flourescent colors coming with it. Yes, I used to tightroll my jeans, and no, I did not have the legs for it even then. I swear if Tiffany comes back I'm moving to sirius radio! Now I could get into some good ol' Max Headroom! I love Matt Frewer ;)

Chicken and salsa and beans, oh my!

No clue what to call this recipe, but it's all over the internet and a friend served it once to me too! We made it stovetop last night, crockpot lid broke last week :( Thought I would share the recipe since it's so darn yummy!!

*as always, if you are making this as a gluten free recipe check your ingredients to ensure gluten free status! I have brands I am very loyal to, but I still check every time I buy a new container to ensure nothing has changed on the ingredient list.

1 - 2 lbs boneless skinless chicken breasts
can black beans
small can corn
jar of your fave salsa

*if you want soup, don't drain the beans and add a little water. I personally don't make it this way because I looooove to eat this with tortilla chips and melted cheese!

Crockpot: pour in salsa, then chicken, beans and corn. Cook either on low for around 4 hours, or on high for 2-3 hours. Shred the chicken in the crockpot, it should fall apart really easily, and serve!
Stovetop: Boil chicken for 30 minutes, and shred. Pour shredded chicken along with rest of ingredients into large pot and simmer on low for half hour. Yum!!!

Grrrrr

Does anyone else ever have one of these days, when you get the doe-eyed "I didn't hear you say that" response when you remind your child he has not done something you told him to do in plain simple words?

Grrrrrr...

Udi's Gluten Free Foods Giveaway

*Thank you to all who participated, this giveaway is now closed and the winner has been notified!

I'm hosting my first giveaway!!! Udi's Gluten Free Foods has graciously offered to send one lucky reader a reusable shopping bag and three Udi's products! Check them out here to explore their awesome product line. I am personally enjoying one of their blueberry muffins this morning, heated with butter. Mmmmmmm!! I love their breads, they are a much better alternative to what I was attempting to make at home! Udi's has made eating as a celiac so much more enjoyable for me, I am eternally grateful!

If you would like to enter the giveaway, leave your info below (this is private of course!) and for two additional entries:
*leave a comment sharing your favorite Udi's product
*follow this blog and leave a comment letting us know you do so :)

I will stop accepting entries 9/17, and will email the winner!

Halloween is coming!!!

Yes, I am that girl - I have already started Christmas shopping too!

I love halloween, and I mean loooove it. It's absolutely my favorite holiday, and I can't even really explain why! We have a party at our house every year, kid friendly of course, and I just have an absolute blast decorating the house, putting together costumes, it's so fun! This year I'm considering being one of the princesses from Mario Bro's, since the twins want to be Mario and Luigi. I found them overalls at a consignment sale, and just have to get the shirts and hats now. We're going to start hopping consignment sales for a princess dress, and possibly a suit to use to make Big Kid into Dr. Who...

I just ordered my free jello brain mold online, thanks hip2save! Excellent timing, I have been going through my halloween recipes (in my total lack of spare time!) and have started a big ziploc bag full of recipes I want to make for our party. I always tell people they are welcome to bring a dish if they want, but not everyone cooks - I usually make things like chili with breadstick bones, putred punch with floating eyeballs, once we made meatloaf rats (they were yummy but ewwy looking!), chicken cordon bleu mummies, I have so much fun!!! I have been ordering invitations all year whenever an online card company offers a free card - I have at least ten from shutterfly alone! I can't help it, I love being thrifty - it's what makes our family budget work!

Our budget has been so tight lately my mom felt bad for me (total lack of gluten free food AT ALL in the house) so she drove up last night and brought me Udi's bread, cookies and hamburger buns (OMG!!!), and various brands of gf cookies, granola (oat free of course) and cereal. My mom is so awesome!!!

Geotrax!!

Our twins love geotrax sets! They are the coolest trains for little kids!!! The trains are almost indestructible and the tracks are so easy to snap together. We bought timbertown railway as our first set because we found it on clearance at Target - someone had stolen a train car out of the box. As soon as we got it home we realized one train and one track set was not enough for twins! We eventually found a craigslister who had some for sale at a reasonable price (they are very expensive new in my opinion), and bought what he had. That included a few almost complete sets and some push trains. Right after that we found a bin full of geotrax and trains for sale at a second hand shop, $29! Of course I bought it, so we had enough track to make a good sized set (or two smaller ones) for the twins to play on and not fight over. We also finally had two remote control trains, yay! We go through an amazing amount of AAA batteries around our house.

Yesterday one of our freecycle friends gave us another big pile of Geotrax! We now have two more remote control trains (Aero the train is now the hottest toy in our house) as well as two buildings that the airplane tracks attach to, and two remote control planes to fly on them! We went out to dinner last night, and the planes came with us ;) She also gave us the Geotrax Grand Central Station, which made Thing Two's life complete. Who knew?! He has had the little train conductors up there loading little items into trains, putting people on and off the trains, he is having such a blast! I have never seen the twins pretend so much, they are at *such* a fun age! We happened across the Christmas in ToyTown set early spring this year on seasonal clearance for $40, we bought it and have kept it well hidden for this Christmas. WOOHOO!

Riding tricycles

The twins have been asking to ride their tricycles, and I thought it was time to get them some helmets. Our twins' heads are so big they couldn't fit into the 3+ helmets, or the 5+ helmets... they had one 8+ helmet that would fit them, and it was a skateboarding Cars helmet! The adult sized helmets fit them perfectly (good lord!) but the chin straps were way too long. We spent 45 minutes in Walmart trying on helmets before we finally found some that would fit well!!! I had no idea my offspring had heads THAT big!!! Big Kid tried on an adult sized bike helmet, it was too small!! I keep telling them they just have big brains...

Glutino makes gf bread crumbs?!!!

WHAT?!! I have tried making bread crumbs at home and end up with croutons - bad tasting ones. I just went on Glutino's website to sing my praise of The Gluten Free Pantry's All Purpose Flour (do it every few years, it's time again!) and they have BREADCRUMBS?? Ohhhhhh, how I would love to make some fried chicken... crunchy baked pork tenderloin... fried chicken... I could finally try fried green tomatoes, maybe with some fried chicken?! I have GOT to figure out how to get my hands on some of these breadcrumbs! I'm cheap because I have to be, so my last resort will be to order online (hate paying shipping for food) but if I must I must! The search starts next payday!

THANK YOU UDI'S BREAD!!!!

So a few weeks ago I bought two loaves of frozen Udi's bread at a local Publix, and set one on the counter to thaw. The next morning it was the stalest bread I have tasted in fifteen years! I emailed Udi's to see if I had done something wrong thawing it on the counter, and they sent me two coupons for a free Udi's item as an apology, even though it wasn't their fault! Something going on at Publix... the loaves I buy at Kroger that are room temp are amazingly tasty and fresh.

So I went to Kroger instead and planned to grab two room temp loaves, and much to my surprise there were packages of Udi's HAMBURGER BUNS on the shelf below the bread!!!! I started jumping up and down, Big Kid thought I had lost it, and grabbed a package like someone was going to come tell me I couldn't have it.

Tonight we made cheeseburgers with swiss cheese, miracle whip, lettuce, and ketchup - your classic American burger. Before you say anything, I hate tomatoes unless they are cooked into oblivion in a recipe. It's a texture thing. My first bite of my burger just sent quivers of pleasure through my body. Today is the first time I have had a burger ON A BUN since my diagnosis with celiac disease July 11th 2006. I have waited five years for that moment, and let me tell you there wasn't one bite that was disappointing! I almost forgot to make the twins' dinners it was so distractingly good. I never even ate anything else, mashed potatoes were totally ignored and I forgot I had even cooked peas in butter sauce. It was that good. I enjoyed the burger so much I was full after the last bite!!

*UPDATE! I have now eaten these buns in all sorts of ways, and wanted to share my yummy findings! I used them like english muffins (toasted with butter and jelly), toasted with tuna and cheese, grilled with runny eggs on them for breakfast, I'm telling you the possibilities are endless! Next stop, creamy chicken with biscuits ;)

THANK YOU UDI'S!!!!!

Cranberry Crockpot Chicken

Last night we had such a nice dinner, I'm giving thanks to The Gluten Free Pantry's All Purpose Flour!!! We made cranberry crockpot chicken, with macaroni and cheese and a salad. For dessert we had Breakfast Apple Pie, yummmmm!!! It reminded me of family get togethers, maybe because of the cranberries? We usually only have cranberries on Thanksgiving! It was so darn good I thought I would share. This is a sweet dish, if you like savory not sweet it may not be for you.

To make the mac and cheese I just used a packet of cheese powder from a Kraft box, and used Mrs. Leeper's Corn Noodle twists. We make salad with whatever we happen to find on sale, so last night it was spinach leaves, matchstick carrots, cucumbers, iceberg lettuce and either Kraft Ranch or Catalina dressing. We are not watching calories, just gluten ;)

*as always, if you are making this as a gluten free recipe check your ingredients to ensure gluten free status! I have brands I am very loyal to, but I still check every time I buy a new container to ensure nothing has changed on the ingredient list.

Cranberry Crockpot Chicken

3 to 6 boneless, skinless chicken breasts - cut into strips
3/4 C dried cranberries (I used craisins!)
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground ginger
3 Tbs honey
1 C orange juice
3 Tbs flour mixed into 2 Tbs water

Place everything but flour mixture in crockpot. Cover and cook on low for 6 hours. Add flour water and check consistency. Depending on how much chicken you used you may want to cook it for another 15 minutes or so, to get the gravy like consistency. Sometimes when I use a lot of chicken I don't have to turn it back on at all, the residual heat thickens it nicely!

Lysol No Touch Systems

The first one I bought I used two coupons and with the sale price it was free. I was so impressed, I ran out and got another one for free. The second one broke, the company reps were jerks about replacing it, so I waited until there was another sale where I could get them for under a dollar and ended up with a total of three at home, having paid twenty four cents for all three. I have one in our downstairs bathroom and love how easy it is for all the kids to use! I have one on our kitchen sink, because it's so great when you have raw chicken all over your hands to just stick your hand under the sensor and get soap. I had the bright idea to put dishsoap in the third one we weren't using, and did so - it works perfectly!!!! Now all we do is stick the sponge under the sensor, and get the perfect amount of dishsoap every time we need it, no more squeezing too much out of the bottle. SCORE!

*Notice I have cut a hole in the top of the soap holders, because I refuse to spend $3 to $4 on a refill when I can simply refill the ones I already have. I used a box cutter. Yes, I am cheap ;)

Chex Muddy Buddies, mmmmmm

I happened across the muddy buddy recipe yesterday while poking around in my cookbook. It was stuffed in a page protector with marker on it, saying "make again". So I did! Mmmmmm is it yummy! Have you made muddy buddies lately?? I love that Chex is gluten free!!! Here's the recipe I pulled from online:

9 C Chex cereals (corn or rice will work)
1 C semi sweet chocolate chips
1/2 C peanut butter
1/4 C butter
1/4 tsp vanilla 1 1/2 C powdered sugar

Pour cereal into large bowl and set aside. Combine chocolate chips, peanut butter and butter in 1 quart microwavable bowl. Microwave on high for 1 to 1 1/2 minutes or until smooth (stir after 1 minute). Stir in vanilla. Pour chocolate mixture over cereal and stir until all pieces are evenly coated.

Pour cereal mixture into large container (with seal) with powdered sugar. Seal securely. Shake until all pieces are well coated. Spread on wax paper to cool. Store in an airtight container. Makes 9 cups.

Play sand!!

I picked up a bag of blue crayola play sand from a freecycler, that had never been opened but was left outside and was very wet. I baked it on cookie sheets in the oven at 200 degrees until it all dried out, which was an all day affair for a 20lb bag! It was worth it, crayola play sand is just about the best out there. Yesterday we took the boys out back and let them play in the sand, with shovels, sifters and buckets we found on summer clearance sales ;) They had such a great time! It was a bit nerve wracking watching them to make sure they didn't flick sand into each other's still healing eyes, but they had such a great time it was worth it. I had completely forgotten we always had a sand table in our room when I taught pre-k! We just dunked into their little swimming pool once we were done, and all the sand came right off outside. Much better than rinsing off into our tub!

Does your washing machine smell musty?

Mine sure did, every time I opened my laundry closet the entire little room stunk like mildew. It was so noticeable that I pulled both the washer and dryer out, to see if water had leaked or something had died! Nope, just a huge pile of dryer sheets, lint, hangers, and a tank top I wore to paint the house a year or so ago. I poked around online and read that a few other people had the same smelly washer after a few years of use, and they suggested running two cups of white vinegar through the washer with hot water, and nothing else in it. While it went against every "be green, conserve water" vein in my body, I did it - and voila! No more smelly laundry closet! I mean that room smells wonderful!!! I do still wonder why my washer started stinking after three or four years of almost daily use... ha!

Aren't Children Amazing?

My children amaze me every day. Whether I sit there astonished at how quickly they can get over an argument, or I listen in wonder to Big Kid play the piano (after 10 lessons he went from knowing nothing to playing actual songs with two hands!), or I walk in the room and find Thing Two's favorite Mario Kart character's name spelled out in letters on the floor! My twins love letters, they can type all sorts of words but can't hold a pencil to save their lives.

I know every parent can look at their children and be amazed at who they are, what they have accomplished and what they will do in the future! I just hope every parent can slow down enough to notice that. I see so many parents shuffle children from breakfast to daycare to school to dinner to bed, I used to do that myself... it's just too important not to give your kids uninterrupted time and see who they really are, and let them know you are interested and proud!!